Hurricane Javier Targets Baja California With Category Four Force

Hurricane Javier bore down on Mexico's Baja California peninsula Tuesday as a powerful Category Four storm, prompting civil defense officials to place the country's entire Pacific coastline on alert for heavy rainfall.

The system carried sustained winds of 225 kilometers per hour and was tracking northwest at 15 kilometers per hour as of 1300 GMT. Outer rain bands were already reaching the states of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit, according to the national weather service.

Authorities called on the public to monitor official alerts closely and advised mariners to exercise particular caution.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.